A Rainbow Baby Born to a Hyperemsis Gravidarum Survivor

My birth story starts almost 6 years ago. My husband (we were dating at the time) found out we were expecting a bundle of joy. He asked me to be his forever on Christmas Day. We were married on February 22, 2008. I was 18 weeks with our precious gift, which we found out the same day we were married we would be parents to a little girl. One month later on March 22, 2008, I went into labor at 22 weeks. We were unable to stop the progression of labor due to an incompetent cervix and had a beautiful little girl, Karlee Jordan at 9:10am. She went to be our angel at 9:15 am.

With the loss of Karlee, we both were devastated. My husband and I had decided to wait a few years before trying to have another bundle of joy. I had found out at my postpartum check up that with any more pregnancies I would have to have a cervical cerclage at 14 weeks, and I was diagnosed with MTHFR, which meant I would have to take a daily blood thinner to ensure the adequate blood flow through the placenta.

My husband and I had decided in the summer of 2011 that we would try to have another bundle of joy. On August 1, 2012 we found out we were pregnant. I immediately called my OB/GYN office and set up an appointment for the following week. On August 4^th, I started miscarrying. I went to my scheduled appointment 2 days later, which I was told I had miscarried. I was heartbroken yet again.

On September 6^th I had decided to take a pregnancy test because I wasn’t feeling like my normal self, it was positive. I called immediately to set up an appointment for blood work. We were approximately 4 weeks along. I started progesterone pills 3 times a day to help prevent miscarriage and was informed at 16 weeks I would start a progesterone shot I would take weekly until 35 weeks. At 13 weeks we scheduled my cervical cerclage for the following week. I was given a spinal block to put in the stitch. I went home to a week of strict bed rest. After that long week, I went to back to my doctor and was released off of bed rest to light work duties.

At 19 weeks, we had our anatomy scan appointment, which we were told we would be having another little girl. During that appointment we had a cervical length check, which showed contractions in the uterus. My doctor put me on moderate bed rest until birth. During the pregnancy I struggled with gaining weight. I lost about 50 pounds in 4 months due to having hyperemisis gravidarum. I started maintaining weight at about 6 months of pregnancy. At 35 weeks I had a BPP ultrasound in which I told my daughter had quit growing intrauterine and was only about 4 pounds. I remained positive after being told this information. I knew I was a small person only 5’3” and my husband is 5’5”. I knew my daughter was healthy just small like her mommy and daddy. I continued with twice weekly BPP and non-stress tests.. At 37 weeks, my doctor removed my cerclage in office and told me that we would be having a baby with in the week. I was already dilated 1 cm.

The next day I was spending the day at my grandmother’s house when I started having contractions. I went to our labor and delivery ward, where I was admitted for observation. My contractions were 4 minutes apart yet I was only 2 cm. I stayed overnight where I continued to have contractions every 3 to 4 minutes. The next morning my husband had went home to take care of our dog and bathe, when my doctor came in. He had noticed that during the contractions our little one was having some deceleration of heart beats. He wanted to help with labor since I was 20 hours in with very little progress. I was worried that my body couldn’t handle any more labor and I agreed with the help.

At lunch time they started the Pitocin and at 2:00PM my water broke and I was 7cm. After my water broke our little one became distressed. I was scared there was something wrong. My doctor did an amnio-infusion, where a catheter was placed in the uterus to pump saline water around my little one. Almost immediately after the infusion started my little one calmed down and her heart rate stabilized. At 5:30, I was 8 cm and my doctor had noticed that there was a band of scar tissue from the cerclage not allowing any more dilation to occur. He proceeded to help stretch the cervix open.

At 6:15, our little one was having more decelerations and it was decided that I would start to push. My daughter was born at 6:25PM with the help of the vacuum assistance. Sophie Mae weighed 5 pounds 4.6 ounces, and was 17 inches long. During the delivery, I had an internal sulcus tear, a class III episiotomy.  I received a total of 27 stitches.

I have a beautiful Angel watching over Sophie and Myself. I could not imagine going through any other pain as great as this was. My daughter is my life now. At 2 months old she is healthy and weighing 10 pounds 12 ounces.